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11/03/2014
Children And Teens Eat Too Much Salt
Children and teenagers are eating more salt than recommended guidelines, according to new research from the British Heart Foundation (BHF).
Researchers looked at data from over 300 children and young people in London. The majority of children in the study were exceeding government recommendations on consuming salt.
Senior Dietitian Victoria Taylor at the BHF said: "Childhood and adolescence is an important time for the development of our tastes and food habits that can last a lifetime.
"Salt is a learned taste so it’s worrying that so many of the children and young people in this study were already consuming more than the recommended amounts.
"The majority of salt in these children and young people’s diets came from manufactured foods. This reinforces the need for continued food industry efforts to reduce the salt in their products. However, the adoption of colour coded labels by manufacturers as well as retailers is also important as it will help parents and children make healthier choices."
(CVS/CD)
Researchers looked at data from over 300 children and young people in London. The majority of children in the study were exceeding government recommendations on consuming salt.
Senior Dietitian Victoria Taylor at the BHF said: "Childhood and adolescence is an important time for the development of our tastes and food habits that can last a lifetime.
"Salt is a learned taste so it’s worrying that so many of the children and young people in this study were already consuming more than the recommended amounts.
"The majority of salt in these children and young people’s diets came from manufactured foods. This reinforces the need for continued food industry efforts to reduce the salt in their products. However, the adoption of colour coded labels by manufacturers as well as retailers is also important as it will help parents and children make healthier choices."
(CVS/CD)
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